


A Little Bit Better

by Blue_Moon76



Series: Fever Dream of a Fanfic Series [1]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Abandonment Issues, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bobby is Not Trevor Wilson, Bobby | Trevor Wilson-centric, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Happy Ending, Is there a tag for that?, Light Angst, i still don't know how to tag, i think, slight bullying, small sad children, they're all between the ages of 7 and 10 btw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-15 04:15:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28807170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_Moon76/pseuds/Blue_Moon76
Summary: Bobby Wilson didn't want to be the mean kid, he just didn't know how to make friends. It was just better to have people be afraid of him then to be teased by them. Also, he doesn't have to worry about anyone leaving him like his parents did if he doesn't have any friends. But Bobby is tired of that new kid in his class, Alex, always being afraid of everything. So, maybe Bobby can be the nice kid for once.
Relationships: Bobby | Trevor Wilson & Alex Mercer, Bobby | Trevor Wilson & Alex Mercer & Luke Patterson & Reggie Peters, Bobby | Trevor Wilson & Carrie Wilson
Series: Fever Dream of a Fanfic Series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2112018
Comments: 7
Kudos: 43





	A Little Bit Better

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! I am actually really happy with this story! To anyone who read Hindsight Is 20/20, this is technically part of the backstory for it. I am going to turn this into a series, and hopefully I'll have a better title for the series someday. Also, someday I'll actually write something other then Bobby. Anyway, enjoy!

Bobby was young when he moved in with his uncle and cousin. So young in fact, that he didn’t realize what was going on at first. He knew that his parents weren’t good parents, but he didn’t think they were that bad. Sure, by the age of six he had accidentally come home to no parents and an empty house more times than he could count, but that was just because his parents forgot, plus, he could only count to 20. 

His parents forgot about a lot of things, they forgot about dinner, about parent-teacher conferences, about bedtime and more. But that’s where Uncle Trevor came in. Uncle Trevor was really cool! He was a real-life rockstar! He played the guitar and sang and played stadiums full of people who knew his songs! That’s not what made him cool to Bobby though. To Bobby, Uncle Trevor was cool because when mom and dad forgot to come to the school programs to watch Bobby, Uncle Trevor did. When Bobby would get home to an empty house, all he had to do was go to Mrs. Knightly’s next door and use her phone to call Uncle Trevor and he would come pick Bobby up. Then he got to play at Uncle Trevor's until mom and dad picked him up! Sometimes, mom and dad wouldn’t come until the next day, and Bobby got to have a sleepover with Uncle Trevor and Carrie! Carrie was Bobby’s cousin and she was really cool too. She was a year younger than Bobby, but she still liked to play with him. She could dance and sing really well, so the two of them would put on performances together for Uncle Trevor (mom and dad were always invited, but they forgot those too). Carrie also liked to play dolls with Bobby, but Bobby didn’t like that as much because once, dad had picked Bobby up and had gotten mad when he saw Bobby playing with the Barbie dolls. Bobby didn't know why, because playing with Carrie and the dolls was fun, but Bobby didn’t like it when dad was mad, so he tried to stop.

Bobby was seven when things started to change. His sleepovers with Uncle Trevor and Carrie started to last for several days, sometimes he would spend a whole week at their house before going home. Slowly, the guest bedroom at Uncle Trevor’s house started to look more like his bedroom than his actual bedroom at home. The biggest change happened during parent-teacher conferences at the end of first grade. 

Bobby’s parent-teacher conference had been scheduled for right after school on Tuesday, so instead of taking the bus to Uncle Trevor’s (he started doing that after the time Uncle Trevor picked him up from his empty house every day for two weeks) he stayed in his classroom, waiting for his parents to come. He didn't really expect them to come, they never had before, he’d probably just stay in the classroom with his teacher until the office called Uncle Trevor to come pick him up. So, when he heard the creak of the classroom door behind him he almost jumped for joy. They came! They didn’t forget this year! He turned around so fast so he could show them the picture he had been coloring that his neck hurt. But that’s ok because they-

“Uncle Trevor?” It wasn’t his parents who were standing in the doorway of his classroom, but Uncle Trevor. A confused frown took over his face as he asked, “What are you doing here?” 

Uncle Trevor let out a nervous laugh as he replied, “I'm here for your conference bud.”

Bobby’s frown deepened, it's not that he didn't like Uncle Trevor. He loved him! But... “It’s called parent-teacher conferences, though. You’re not my parents.”

Uncle Trevor let out a deep breath, glancing up at Bobby’s teacher as he started to say, “Well, bud, we can talk more later, after I talk to your teacher-”

“With all due respect, Mr. Wilson, it might be best to just explain everything now.” Bobby’s teacher, Ms. Fleming said, her eyebrows pinched in that way they got when she was worried.

Uncle Trevor nodded slowly, before kneeling down to be eye-level with Bobby. “The thing is bud, your parents haven't been doing very well lately. I've been talking to them about having you come live with me and Carrie. It wouldn’t be very different from what we’ve been doing recently. You already spend more time at my house than at home. Now though, the guest bedroom would be your room, and I would come to things like parent-teacher conferences for you. Does that sound ok?"

Bobby was shocked. He nodded quietly, but he wasn’t really sure if that was ok. He sat through the rest of the meeting, not really paying attention. His parents weren't doing ok? What did that mean? They seemed ok whenever he saw them. Were they not ok with him? Did they not like him anymore? He tried to remember the last time his parents and him did something together. Tried to remember the last time they had told him they loved him. He almost cried when all he remembered was broken promises and empty houses. 

He could, however, remember performances with Carrie while Uncle Trevor cheered them on, making cookies with them and going to arcades to run around for a couple hours. He could remember Uncle Trevor tucking him into bed every night he stayed over, with a kiss to his forehead and a murmured “I love you.”

It didn’t make it ok, not by a lot. But, Bobby thought, it did make it a little bit better. 

After that, Bobby’s life felt like a whirlwind. All of his things were moved to his new room at Uncle Trevor’s. Carrie was beyond happy. She wouldn’t stop talking about how much fun it would be to have Bobby there all the time. Uncle Trevor also seemed happy, he didn’t talk about it as much, but he seemed to smile a bit wider when someone mentioned it. It kind of made Bobby feel sick. That kind of sick where you're really confused and your stomach hurts and you want everything to stop. He didn’t know why it hurt so much, because part of him was happy. Carrie and Uncle Trevor were his favorite people in the world, why wouldn't he want to live with them? But then, he would wonder why he had to. He wasn’t a perfect kid, he knew that, but he didn’t think he was bad. But... Why else would mom and dad not want him anymore? Were they mad at him for complaining about being left alone? Was dad still mad at him for playing dolls with Carrie? Was mom mad at him for that time she had to leave work to pick him up from school after he threw up? Maybe that was it, because mom and dad obviously didn’t want him anymore, they were too happy every time he saw them for if to be because they “weren't doing ok.”

The biggest shock, though, was when he found out that they were moving. They had moved almost everything out of Bobby’s old house that belonged to him when he found out. Him and Uncle Trevor had driven back to his old house to pick up the last few things when he saw the “For Sale” sign in the front yard. His eyes went wide.

“They’re selling the house?” He asked Uncle Trevor.

Uncle Trevor let out an annoyed sigh, “I guess so.”

His parents hadn't been home, so they couldn’t ask them about it. A couple days later, Uncle Trevor told him that his parents were moving, and not just houses, they were moving far away. Bobby felt even worse, if that was possible. He knew his parents didn’t want him anymore, but he had at least thought that he could visit them. He thought that even if he didn’t live with his parents he would still have some. Apparently, he was wrong. 

By the start of summer, Bobby had moved in with Uncle Trevor and Carrie and his parents had moved away. Bobby tried to be happy, he really did, but he wasn’t. He started to yell more, and call people names. Once, he had broken one of Uncle Trevor’s guitar’s so Uncle Trevor told him to go to his room for a timeout. 

Bobby didn’t know why, but all of a sudden he started screaming at Uncle Trevor. He yelled and screamed, calling Uncle Trevor mean names before stomping up the stairs shouting with as much force as he could, “I HATE YOU!!!!”

Bobby had run into his room, slamming the door and starting to throw things. He grabbed his pillow and chucked it at the wall, kicking his closet and ripping up the photo of him and Uncle Trevor that sat on his desk. His anger vanished, though, when he realized what he had done. 

“Oh no... oh no no no no no.” He was still crying, but it was silent tears now, streaming down his face as his hands started to shake, still holding the two halves of the photo. It was from last year, at the pumpkin patch. Uncle Trevor was kneeling down, his arm over Bobby’s shoulder. They were both smiling at the camera. It was one of Bobby’s favorite photos, and now he had ruined it.

Uncle Trevor was going to be so mad. Bobby had broken his guitar, thrown a tantrum, messed up his room AND ruined a picture of the two of them. Bobby had even said he hated him, which wasn’t true because Uncle Trevor was still his favorite person, but he had still said it. Bobby sat down on the floor and started to chew his fingernails, something he did when he was scared or nervous after his mom told him to stop sucking his thumb. Bobby had ruined it, he had been bad and now Uncle Trevor was gonna make him leave! 

It was ok though, because Bobby had been bad, when he left it would be his own fault.

He was so wrapped up in his mind that he didn’t see the door open. Uncle Trevor slowly lowered himself to the ground in front of Bobby. When Bobby noticed he started to curl in on himself, trying to hide the picture.

“You ok bud?” It was all Uncle Trevor said as carefully pulled Bobby’s fingers away from his mouth. They had started to bleed from how much he had chewed on his nails, but at the moment he didn’t care. Uncle Trevor hadn’t said much, but it was enough for Bobby to throw himself at his Uncle, loud sobs racking his body.

“I'm sorry I’m sorry I’m so so sorry!” He cried into his Uncle’s chest. Uncle Trevor’s arms hugged Bobby tightly and he started to rub Bobby’s back gently. At one point, Bobby’s tears had slowed down, and he quietly whispered, “Please don’t make me leave.”

Uncle Trevor went still, but he tightened his arms around Bobby as he said, “Why would you have to leave?”

“Because I was bad,” Bobby answered, “and I said I hated you, even though I don’t! I swear! And I yelled and broke your guitar and... and...” He couldn’t bring himself to admit to ripping the picture, but before he could try again, Uncle Trevor spoke.

“Bobby,” He said firmly, pulling back slightly so he could look Bobby straight in the eyes, “I will never make you leave, no matter how bad you’ve been, Because no matter what, I love you and that will never change.”

Bobby stared back with wide eyes. Quietly, he whispered, “Promise?”

Uncle Trevor smiled softly. “Promise. Can I tell you a secret?” Bobby nodded his head. Uncle Trevor lowered his voice and said, “I wouldn’t let you leave, even if you did hate me.” 

Bobby had smiled, before remembering the picture. He looked down and he pulled back, quietly handing the two crumpled halves to Uncle Trevor. In a whisper, he said, “I ruined it.”

To his surprise, Uncle Trevor wasn’t mad. He held the two halves for a second, before putting them down on the ground. “It’s alright bud, I can print a new one.”

And that had been the end of that. Bobby still got mad and would yell, but Uncle Trevor would wait for him to calm down before talking to him. Once, Bobby had gotten mad at Carrie. She had said that he wasn’t trying hard enough to learn the new dance move she was showing him. Just like before, he started to yell at Carrie! Saying that the dance was stupid anyway, before stomping off. Carrie had been mad. Like, really mad. Uncle Trevor had had to step in to help them make up. Bobby felt awful, he hadn’t meant to yell at Carrie, he had just been scared that she was mad at him and that she didn’t like him anymore. He thought that yelling at her before she yelled at him would make it better. It didn’t. 

Carrie forgave him, eventually, but other kids weren’t like Uncle Trevor and Carrie. The start of second grade was bad. In first grade, everyone played together. No one really had friends, they just played with whoever was playing the best game. In second grade though, people had friends. They played with their friends and their friends only.  
The hardest part was making friends. Bobby found out pretty quickly that people had all of these rules of how friendships worked. You had to listen to each other, do what the other person wanted, and you couldn’t yell at each other. Bobby tried to follow the rules, but it was hard! He would be playing with someone, and they would tell him he was doing something wrong, or they would say that he was boring, and Bobby would start yelling. He wasn’t trying to be mean, he was just upset and scared. They weren’t going to be his friend anyway, no one was. So, he might as well tell them how stupid they were being. Before long, Bobby was the only kid in his grade without a friend. He pretended like it was ok, but it wasn’t really. It was his fault, though. So he deserved it.

-

“Why is he always alone?”

“Cuz he’s mean.”

“No one would ever be his friend.”

“He’s a bad friend. We aren’t supposed to have bad friends, my mommy told me so.”

Bobby pretended not to hear them. He pretended that he didn’t care. He was good at pretending. 

Bobby thought that everything could be ok if people ignored him. What he didn’t think about was what would happen if someone started making fun of him. That’s where Aaron Davees came in. He had the most friends and had decided that he was better because of it. And that Bobby was the worst because he didn’t have any.

“Don’t you ever get booooored?” he drawled, a mean smirk on his face. Bobby tensed up from where he was sitting on the grass in the playground. Sometimes it felt like Aaron would look for Bobby just to make fun of him.

“What do you want?” Bobby spat as he started to clench his teeth.

Aaron just rolled his eyes. “See, that’s why you don’t have any friends. Your mean and angry and annoying,” With each word Bobby tensed up more and more, “No one likes you and no one ever wi-”

Bobby had started moving before Aaron ever finished. He didn’t know what he was thinking. All he knew was that he was mad and tired. Tired of pretending, tired of being picked on, tired of being alone! So, Bobby jumped up, ran over and-

punched Aaron straight in the nose.

Bobby had gotten in trouble, like, a lot of trouble. He had to go to the principal's office, where they called Uncle Trevor. Then, Uncle Trevor had to pick him up from school and he didn’t get to go back for a week! He had never seen Uncle Trevor so disappointed. The thing was, though, when Bobby got back to school, something had changed. Aaron never made fun of him anymore, and all the other kids who gave him those stupid looks when they thought he wasn’t watching also stopped. Some kids even ran away from him.

They were afraid of him.

At first, Bobby wasn’t sure how to feel. He still didn’t have any friends, but now it was because people were afraid of him. That was better than it being because he was a bad friend, right? Well, Bobby decided it was. Now, when people talked about him behind his back, he yelled and made fun of them right back. When people made fun of him to his face, like Aaron, he would push or hit them. He told himself it was better that way, because he may not have friends, but at least he was in charge on the playground. He pretended like he liked it.

He got in trouble at school a lot. He was in the principal's office all the time and Uncle Trevor had to come pick him up just as often. Uncle Trevor would get mad at him, but that's ok because everyone else was mad at him anyways. Second grade ended and summer began. Summer was better, because Bobby felt better with Uncle Trevor and Carrie. He still didn’t get to see his parents, he hadn’t seen them for a year, but he didn’t want to see them anyways. He spent the whole summer playing with Carrie and Uncle Trevor and doing whatever he wanted. But as they say, all good things come to an end.

Third grade started and it wasn’t any better than last year. Bobby was still mean, and everyone was still scared of him. Then the school made a decision. At the beginning of the year, they sent him to the counselor, who apparently decided that Bobby’s “problems” “stemmed from a lack of social intelligence,” whatever that means. The school decided that to fix it Bobby had to be put in a class for an hour three days a week where they taught him and three other kids how to make friends.

Now, until the day he died, Bobby would swear that the class was stupid, and did nothing. But, there was one good thing that came from the class, Alex. Alex was new to Bobby’s school. He wasn’t in Bobby’s normal class, but he was in Bobby’s weird social class. Whoever put these two in the same class, were either insane or a genius, because at first, Alex and Bobby did not mix well. Alex was in the class because of his anxiety. Alex constantly thought that people hated him. He was too anxious to talk to anyone, much less make friends. So, sitting next to Bobby, who was known to hate everyone, did not help his anxiety. Alex was constantly glancing towards Bobby and averting his gaze when Bobby looked at him. Only talking if he absolutely had to.

It annoyed Bobby. He wasn’t sure why, because everyone was scared of him, but there was something about the way Alex was extra scared that made Bobby upset. Bobby would shoot Alex extra mean looks, and rolled his eyes when Alex looked at him fearfully. After a while though, Bobby realized that Alex was always extra scared. When the teacher asked Alex a question, Alex would stare at him with wide eyes and stutter a response. At recess, Alex would stare at a group of friends playing and then run away when they tried to talk to him. Bobby started to feel bad for Alex. Bobby knew what it felt like to be scared, and it wasn’t fun. He couldn't imagine feeling scared all the time! So, Bobby decided to try and make Alex not scared. It was hard, because Bobby usually did the opposite, and Alex was already scared of him, but he tried. When Bobby caught Alex staring at him, instead of making a mean face, he smiled like he did when Carrie told him something. When the teacher asked Alex a question and Alex got scared, Bobby would give him another smile, or carefully nudge Alex. After a while, Alex started smiling back. He wasn’t not scared, but he was getting closer. 

This went on for months. Bobby was worried Alex would go back to being scared when they came back from winter break, because he wouldn’t have seen Bobby for so long, and he did, but only for a few days before they were back to their “normal” shy smiles. But, Bobby wasn’t sure what to do next. Alex was still scared, even with the small smiles, and Bobby was pretty sure Alex would just be more scared if Bobby tried to talk to him. Luckily though, the opportunity presented itself about two weeks after winter break.

Alex and Bobby had the same recess, but they didn’t interact. Alex had given up staring at the other kids and mostly played by himself on the swings or the slide. Bobby usually just walked around during recess, making faces at anyone who looked at him and exploring parts of the playground that most kids didn’t know about. One day though, in mid January, Bobby passed some kids approaching where Alex sat in the grass. Bobby walked closer. By now, other kids had realized that Alex didn’t have friends either, but Bobby was pretty sure nobody cared, because Alex wasn’t mean like him, he was just scared. It wasn’t Alex’s fault that he didn’t have friends.

Bobby was, once again, wrong. 

“Look at the baby playing by himself,” one of the girls, Lizzy, said. Alex looked up with a scared expression on his face. He started looking around at the small group of about five kids around him.

Another kid, Kevin, spoke up, “He’s such a scaredy cat! He always runs away.” Anger started to flood Bobby’s senses. What were they doing? 

Alex was near tears now, shaking and breathing fast while trying to figure out what to say. Then, Aaron (you remember him, right?) started to speak, “That’s why he doesn’t have any friends. He’s too scared to even talk to people! You’re always going to be a loner!”

Bobby had had enough. The kids hadn’t seen him yet, which was good because when he started to run towards them, they looked extra scared.

“HEY! LEAVE HIM ALONE!” he yelled, and crossed his arms with a murderous look on his face when he came to a stop in front of Alex. The kids scattered, all running away towards the other side of the playground. Bobby watched with a satisfied smirk on his face until he heard a small voice speak up from behind him. 

“Why did you do that?” Alex asked. Bobby looked at him sitting on the ground for a while before answering.

“They shouldn’t tease you like that. It’s not your fault that you get scared.” 

“Thank you,” Alex said with a smile, “It’s not your fault that you get lonely either.” Alex looked at Bobby with such sincerity that Bobby almost cried. That is, until he really processed the words.

“I’m not lonely,” he said forcefully.

“You… ok.” Alex didn’t really look like he believed Bobby, but maybe that was a good thing.

After that incident, Alex and Bobby became a lot closer. They played together at recess, and always sat as close together as they could during their special class and Alex started teaching Bobby about his “anxiety” and what things made it worse or better. Bobby even showed Alex all of the different hiding places he had found in the school yard. It took Bobby a while before he realized that Alex was Bobby’s actual friend, but once he did, he felt a lot happier. Alex was an amazing friend. Even when Bobby and Alex disagreed, Alex always made sure that they made up, and that Bobby knew they were still friends. Even when Bobby yelled. Bobby tried his hardest to be a good friend too. He held Alex’s hand when Alex started to get scared, and talked to Alex to distract him from all of his worries. Bobby also made sure that none of the other kids made fun of Alex, because Alex was the best friend in the world.

-

Alex and Bobby spent all of the rest of third grade together. They even got to play at each other's houses! Alex and Carrie got along really well. Alex liked to dance almost as much as Carrie. Bobby met Alex’s sisters, but he didn’t really get to know them all that well, because two of them were older than Alex and the other one was just a toddler. They kept playing even after school ended, and Bobby got to meet Luke. 

Luke was Alex’s old neighbor from before he moved and was Alex’s only other friend. Alex invited both Luke and Bobby over one day in July to introduce them. At first, Bobby was scared that Luke wouldn’t be as nice as Alex and wouldn’t like him. That idea, however, went out the window almost the second he met Luke. Luke ran into Alex’s house talking faster than Bobby had thought was possible with the widest grin on his face.

“Hi! You must be Bobby! I’m super happy to meet you! Alex said you're really cool and that you play guitar. Did you know I play guitar? Well only kinda, I just barely got one for Christmas. Is your Uncle really Trevor Wilson? I love his music!” Luke rambled. Bobby couldn’t help but smile as the boy went on. It didn’t take long before Luke was just as much Bobby’s friend as Alex was, even if Bobby and Luke liked to tease each other a little bit. The best was when the school boundaries changed and Luke got to come to school with Alex and Bobby. They were even in the same class! Which, probably wasn’t great for their teacher, but oh well. 

About a month into fourth grade another boy moved into their class. His name was Reggie and he had moved from Montana. When the three boys saw him alone at recess his first day, they decided that he needed to be their friend. Reggie was almost as hyper as Luke. He didn’t talk as fast as Luke did, but he was always moving, and even though he didn’t talk as fast, he still talked a lot. He would see something cool and turn to one of the boys to point it out with a giddy smile. He fit right into their group.

The four boys were inseparable. They were best friends. They had their ups and downs, but instead of leaving Bobby behind, they stuck with him, because they loved him and he loved them. Maybe Bobby didn’t have very many friends, but he didn’t care. Because the friends he did have were the best friends anyone could have, so Bobby felt pretty lucky that they were his.

**Author's Note:**

> So... what did you think? Comments and Kudos are very appreciated! Thanks for reading!


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